Monthly Archives: <span>August 2020</span>

Bayer to Pay $1.6 Billion to End U.S. Suits Over Contraceptive

Bayer AG agreed to pay $1.6 billion to resolve most of the U.S. litigation over its now-withdrawn Essure contraceptive device, which some women said caused excessive bleeding and pelvic pain or failed to prevent pregnancies. The deal will resolve about …

Apple Can’t Dodge Suit Claiming Sex-Bias for Canceled Contract

Apple Inc. can’t dodge a lawsuit in which it’s accused of canceling a contract with a janitorial service because the owner is a woman. In a tentative ruling Wednesday in California state court in San Jose, Judge Cynthia Lie ruled …

COVID-19 Era Highlights ‘Black Hole’ Compensation Fund For Vaccine Injuries

A U.S. government program that compensates people who say they have been harmed by an emergency vaccine has paid out on fewer than 10% of claims, raising questions whether the process should be used to address any potential side effects …

N.C. Political Donor Gets 7 Years In Prison, Hayes Probation

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A major political donor convicted of attempting to bribe a North Carolina elected official to secure preferential regulatory treatment for his insurance business was sentenced Wednesday to more than seven years in prison. Billionaire businessman Greg E. …

Federal Judge Upholds $925M Damages Verdict in Robocall Case

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge has upheld a $925 million damages award in a class-action case against a Michigan-based marketing company that a jury in Portland, Oregon found had conducted unlawful telemarketing practices. ViSalus Inc. placed almost 2 million …

Vehicles Hit Illinois Covered Bridge Twice After Reopening

LONG GROVE, Ill. — A covered bridge in northern Illinois has been damaged twice by vehicles within days of its reopening after a $1 million rebuild repaired severe damage a delivery truck inflicted in 2018. Less than 24 hours after …

‘Physical Abuse’ Exclusion Doesn’t Bar Claim Stemming From Fight Over Fish

A policy that excludes damages caused by “physical abuse” does not take a property insurer off the hook for a claim by an insured who agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit stemming from injuries caused by an alleged …

N.J. Gym Owners Fume Over Lockdown While Seeing Neighbors Reopen

Shut down for five months, New Jersey gym owners say their facilities are safer than ever, prepared to protect against Covid-19, flu and whatever other germs lurk in locker rooms and on fitness equipment. Governor Phil Murphy, though, has yet …

UW Study Finds Ponderosa Pine Forests Most at Risk From Wildfires

Recent years have brought unusually large and damaging wildfires to the Pacific Northwest – from the Carlton Complex Fire in 2014 that was the largest in Washington’s history, to the 2017 fire season in Oregon, to the 2018 Maple Fire, …

China Rare Earths Firm Shenghe Hit By ‘Once-in-a-Century’ Flooding

Chinese rare earths producer Shenghe Resources Holding Co is set to lose tens of millions of dollars after reporting that “once-in-a-century”flooding in southwest Sichuan province had shut down plants and damaged inventory. Floods on China’s Yangtze river, which passes through …